Day 19

Not much to report today other than we're still on track to get discharged tomorrow. We'll hit the 48 hour mark Friday at 1:00am, so as long as things continue as they are, the attending doctor should be writing a discharge order tomorrow at morning rounds.

Ezri passed her car seat test. They basically have the babies sit in their car seat for two hours to make sure they don't have any problems breathing or sitting in that position. We arrived right in the middle of the test to find this:



Seeing her in a regular car seat made us realize how small she really is. We kept thinking she was normal size after spending the last 3 weeks surrounded by other babies who are Ezri's size or smaller. Seeing her in a normal-size car seat reminded us that 4 lbs. 15 1/2 oz. is still pretty tiny in the grand scheme of things.

Ezri also successfully nursed for the first time today - no pumping beforehand or anything. She got about 3/4 of her meal right from me but then had to be topped off with the bottle. Preemies tire out pretty quickly at the breast so she fell asleep before her stomach was full, but it was very impressive that she did as well as she did on her first real try. This is how we'll proceed once we get home - nurse until she's tired then top her off with a bottle for the calories. I had hoped the large industrial breast pump would be gone once Ezri came home, but it looks like I'll be pumping away for a few more weeks until she is completely on breast. My days as a dairy cow are not done just yet.